Blast off for the Empire with Star Wars action toys

So, is Montgomery Wards encouraging kids to join the Empire?

Also, I leave a running tape recorder in a briefcase when I exit a room.

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Exciting Toys from the Star Wars Series

This nice ad from Zayres (wish i had the whole flyer) is from Christmas 1983 and I'm guessing by that point, I had jumped off the wonderful train that was Star Wars. 

I still read the Marvel comic mind you but I honestly don't recognize or remember that mini-rig or the plush Ewoks at all. I hope it brings joy to those that do. 

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Annie-Pocalypse

There are NINE PAGES of Annie merchandise in the 1983 Sears catalog. More than any of the other themes like Smurfs or Strawberry Shortcake and exactly nine pages more than "Wrath of Khan" which was more successful at the box office.

Not being a young girl at the time (or any time for that matter) I have no idea if "Annie-Mania" swept through households the way Sears was hoping. Anybody have a bedroom like this?

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Kenner Jedi

So instead of  Leia, this ad features slave General Madine, the most boring Kenner figure ever IMO (and the last figure I ever purchased, talk about going out with a whimper.) Even Jabba seems to be yawning.

New Return of the Jedi toys at Toys R Us!

I wonder what Geoffrey's sith lord name is? Darth Exclusive?

When the Jedi Return: Make sure your troops are ready

I love this neat British Ad for Palitoy UK, who were pretty confident they were going to sell football fields full of Star Wars toys (psssst they did).

I'm especially smitten with these drawings of the figures which are there because the ad was placed so far in advance of the film.

The Saga of Crystar Crystal Warrior

I stumbled on this great toy fair ad for Crystar today and it reminded me of the first time I saw the line in a Liesure World as a kid (a store that rarely carried action figures BTW). 

Remco and Marvel teamed up on this and it seemed like it would have been a big hit but this was the age of animation mixed with toys, so the saga was markedly short, Crystar doesn't appear in the 1984 Remco catalog. 



I love showing this picture, from the 1983 Remco showroom, note the proof cards behind our hero. Wonder where these costumes are now?

The 1983 Remco Toys Catalog featuring Crystar

Atari Halloween

For some reason I didn't add this page to the 1983 Collegeville Catalog when i did it and it only took me 7 years to figure that out. I can't imagine the conversations when the designers were told tha they had to develop a costume for Asteroids but in the end, I can't say I could do better...

BTW i was true blood atari fan, I got in fist fights with Intellivision kids, I still hate George Plimpton...

Colouring Book Theatre: Happy Days

Happy Days Colouring and Activity Book

Another colouring book I found rummaging through  Planet of the Stuff a couple of weeks ago.

Like a lot of 70s kids, I non-ironically stood in a mirror going "Ayyyyy!" and begged my parents for a leather jacket. I loved Happy Days, had a Mego Fonize doll and even bought the (lame) Gold Key comic, so it seemed fitting that this would be a fun colouring book to review here.

However all that positive energy leaked out when I realized this book was from 1983, a time when Fonzie was a 35 year old shadow of himself and most of the interesting cast members were long since gone, paving way for a big pile of who gives a crap.

Let's take a look at this after the jump...

Imperial Monsters

I have to admit that I've never warmed to the Imperial Monster figures, they came out when I was a teenager and I was spoiled by what came earlier. Since then, I've met several people who owed their adult monster love to these very figures, plus this display box is pretty swell, so I thought I'd feature it today.

While I find the sculpting on the figures crude, thumbs up to this wonderful displayer art. 

I bought this piece to feature it in Rack Toys but unfortunately it got cut for space, maybe it'll make it into volume 2 someday.

Bugmen of Insecta

I thought I'd dedicate the Friday feature space to this odd little line of early 1980s obscurity. Not because I collect them but because they kind of fascinate me.

When Toys R Us first hit my town in 1984, the Bug Men came with it. Their cards looked warn already and it was sort of this weird "never heard of it toy line" that belonged in a pharmacy rack toy aisle more than a TRU action figure aisle.

There they sat and sat and sat until at least the mid 1990s when they seemed to vanish from every Toys R Us I visited, in some sort of clearance clean up. I almost never see them at toy shows either, they just vanished. That was until this past fall when I was at Burlington Toy Con and a fellow I know trucked by a box of them. 

Turns out the Bug Men are highly collectible now, commanding more than I'd pay for them, which is a shame because their mix of horror and cheapness are now intoxicating to me. Fortunately I was able to record them for posterity, more after the jump:

1983 JC Adventures in Toy Land Catalog

Another fun trip down memory lane courtesy of the JC Penney toy flier. The Penney Flier always kind of went a step up normal advertising and this 1983 brochure looks more like a cool comic book than an advertisement.

1983 is a great example to have thanks to the metric ton of iconic 80s toys in between these covers including, Barbie, He Man, GI Joe, the gang from Star Wars and the Adventure People.

Click on the images below to see larger pages with descriptions:

Click here to visit the 1983 JC Penney Adventures in Toyland Catalog

Other Toy Flyers and Circulars:

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1983 LJN Advanced Dungeons & Dragons catalog

In 1982, LJN toys beat out rival toymake Mego for the rights to produce toys based on the popular TSR role play game "Dungeons and Dragons" and a great underrated series of toys was born. The LJN D&D line was sort of a grown up version of Masters of the Universe with it's Elves, Wizards and Orcs populated a fun middle earth environment. Sadly, the line didn't fare well, most likely due to then strong opposition to the game itself and it's themes.

Despite being kicked out of my sole D&D game when I was 12 (I didn't really "get" role playing and decided to instead be an ass) I really dug these toys and bought much of the first wave of figures. Click on the images below to see larger pages with descriptions:

Click Here for the 1983 LJN Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Catalog

LJN TV Superstars 1983

LJN toys had a long tradition of picking up cool cop shows like SWAT and The Rookies and that tradition carried on in the 1983 catalog where they hoped to continue for toy maker Mego (who ahd just filed for bankruptcy) left off by continuing the CHiPs line.

Also offered this year was Magnum PI using what appears to be a retooled Mego Dukes of Hazzard body. While I've never seen any LJN branded chips figures, the Magnum set is now a sought after collectible. The carded figure has never been seen on the collectors market.

More from LJN
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Obi-Wan has taught you Frogger well

Darth Vader playing Atari cira 1983, it doesn't get better than that.

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1983 Remco Toys Catalog

By 1983, Remco had put down their utility belts and picked up some swords but never actually straying from their comic book licensing ties. Their long relationship with Marvel comics made them a natural to market the action figures based on their Crystar comic series , also announced were a series of figures based on Kazar that sadly, never materialized.

DC comics provided Remco the opportunity to combat Masters of the Universe in the form of the "Lost World of the Warlord" toyline based on the works of Mike Grell. The Universal Monsters (another long relationship for AHI and Remco) were still kicking and after years being seperated it seems that Remco/AHI finally became one in 1983 with the rack toy items finally being marketed in the Remco catalog.

Thanks to Steve F. for these marvelous scans. Click on the images for pages with descriptions:

More about Remco:

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